What does it take to solve a problem that everyone experiences and nobody has fixed?

In this episode of Why Design, Floyd Freeman shares the belief that sits at the heart of his work: that the most obvious problems are sometimes the hardest to solve not because the technology does not exist, but because no one has connected the pieces. FlushLocks a smart lock and unattended tap payment system for commercial restrooms is the result of one afternoon in Boulder, Colorado, a nappy emergency and a door with a code that said customers only.

Rather than staying in a secure, well-paid career managing 400 people at one of America's most recognisable convenience chains, Floyd walked away to build a hardware product from scratch. No engineering background, no product experience, no prototype when he signed up to exhibit at CES. That decision led to a van journey to Las Vegas, a prototype that arrived three days before the show, and a booth in Eureka Park where strangers kept saying: nobody has thought of that.

This conversation is not about inventing something new. It is about recognising something obvious and refusing to wait for someone else to build it.

It is not about hardware expertise. It is about knowing what you do not know, finding the people who do, and trusting them enough to let them lead where you cannot follow.

It is not about the perfect founding story. It is about making the same decision twenty-five times a week until it sticks.

Don't just listen. Go beyond the podcast.

Join the Why Design community -> teamkodu.com/whydesign

What You'll Learn

• 🔒 Why unattended tap payment certification only became legally possible at the end of 2025 - and how FlushLocks was built in almost perfect timing with the infrastructure that makes it work
• 🧾 How Floyd decided to leave a twelve-year career with nothing but an idea on a Word document and a meeting with a patent attorney
• 🛠 Why choosing the right manufacturer is less about technical capability and more about leadership style, pace, and working relationship
• 📍 What it actually costs to build hardware from scratch: not just money, but the trust you place in people you have never worked with before
• 🏪 Why the hardest part of selling a hardware product into restaurants is not the product or the pitch it is finding the person in a 25-location chain who actually makes the decision
• 🧠 How a general manager thinks about building a technical company: learning just enough of each discipline to direct the people who know more

Memorable Quotes

"I would have been happy to just pay for a restroom. I don't need the soda. This was an emergency."

"We asked ourselves twenty five times a week: is this the right thing to do? Can we do this without falling apart?"

"I have no degree in anything I'm doing right now. I am a general manager that's my mindset, that's who I am as a human being."

"I will be the last person to get money. If I have twenty grand, I'm going to make sure five goes to you, five goes to you, five goes to you and then maybe if there's anything left over."

"You can't have lift if you don't invest in the project. The runway is irrelevant if you don't have lift."

Resources & Links

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube & Amazon -> whydesign.club

👥 Join the Why Design community -> teamkodu.com/whydesign

📸 Follow @whydesignxkodu on Instagram

🎥 Watch full episodes -> YouTube.com/@whydesignpod

🔗 Follow Chris Whyte -> linkedin.com/in/mrchriswhyte

🔗 Explore FlushLocks -> paidrestrooms.com

🔗 Connect with Floyd Freeman -> floyd@flush-locks.com

About the Episode

Why Design is powered by Kodu, a specialist recruitment partner for the hardware and physical product development industry.

Through honest conversations with designers, engineers and creative leaders, we explore not just what they build but why they build it; the beliefs, decisions and responsibility behind meaningful work.

About Kodu

Why Design is produced by Kodu, a recruitment partner for ambitious hardware brands, design consultancies and product-led start-ups.

We help founders and leadership teams hire exceptional talent across industrial design, mechanical engineering and product leadership bringing structure and clarity to one of the hardest parts of scaling.

🔗 Learn more -> teamkodu.com